


Meet the Neighbours

by artsyAquarius



Series: Paper Lanterns Universe [7]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Humanstuck, Kid Fic, Nine year old Tavros, Ten year old Aradia, Thirteen year old Damara, Thirteen year old Rufioh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-29
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:24:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsyAquarius/pseuds/artsyAquarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aradia has moved into her new house and wants to explore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I think Aradia and Tavros's relationship is really important to the story, so I wanted to write how it all began.

You are very, very excited. This is your first day in your new house, and since your mom’s gone out, you’ve got the whole house to yourself!   
Well, except for your cousin Damara. But she’s not going to ruin your fun much. She’s just here because your mom’s not allowed to leave you alone.   
You’ve been exploring everywhere. Your new house has an attic! And a basement! There’s sure to be treasure buried there! You’re about the climb the stairs into the dusty old room full of wonders you’ve yet to explore, and-  
“Aradia! Come down from there!” Damara shouts in Mandarin. She doesn’t speak English too well.   
“What? I’m exploring, like Indiana Jones!” They’re your favourite movies. Especially Temple of Doom. You want to be an archaeologist when you’re older.   
You run back down to the first floor. Damara looks worried. “Please, just stay where I can see you. If you get hurt I’ll be in so much trouble!”   
“Come on, I’m not gonna hurt myself! ‘Sides, you’re only thirteen! You’re not the boss of me!” you say, and stick your tongue out.   
Damara puts her hands on her hips. “Aunt Hannah put me in charge, so you have to do what I say!”   
The doorbell rings. You run over to open answer it.   
“Should we be answering the door if no adults are here?” Damara says quietly, but you’ve already opened the door.   
On the other side of the door stands a man with red streaks in his hair, next to a boy a bit younger than you who looks just like him, but he’s in a wheelchair. The man’s holding a large box that could only contain a cake. “Hello, there! You must be our new neighbours!” he says, smiling. The boy stares at you with wide, brown eyes.   
“Yeah! I’m Aradia, and this is my cousin Damara. She can’t speak English well,” you whisper, and the man laughs quietly.   
“I’m Simon Nitram, and this is my son, Tavros.” You wave at Tavros, and he waves back timidly. “Are your parents home?”   
“Mom isn’t here. She’s with her boyfriend.” Damara’s staring at you funny. Oops. You don’t think you were supposed to tell him that.   
“Oh. Well, we just wanted to drop this off and welcome you to the neighbourhood.” He offers you the cake box and you take it, grinning. “It’s store-bought, so don’t worry.” He says with a chuckle. “Maybe we can drop back around when your mom’s here?”   
You consider this while you open the box. Good, it’s chocolate. “Well…I don’t know. She isn’t home often anyway. But I’ll tell her when she is!”   
Simon nods. “That’d be good. Maybe you could come over sometime?”   
Tavros’s eyes light up. “Yeah, uh, we have lots of movies we could watch if you did…”   
“Do you have Indiana Jones?” you ask, with enthusiasm.   
Tavros nods. “Yeah, we have all of them.”   
Simon laughs again. He seems to be a pretty happy person. “We’ll definitely look forward to it. I have a nephew around Damara’s age that visits a lot, too.”   
When they leave, you put the cake in the fridge. You’ll save it for desert.   
“Don’t go over to their house.” Damara says, sitting on the couch and turning the TV on.   
You frown. “Why not?”  
“Because, he could kidnap you!”   
“What? No! He has a kid, he’s not a kidnapper!”   
Damara tilts her head. “He could have kidnapped his son, too. Or maybe his son’s just there to lure in his next victim.”   
She’s teasing you, you know that. But it’s kind of scaring you a little. “Stop it! I’ll tell mom!”   
It’s too late. She grins wickedly and stands up, walking towards you slowly. She suddenly growls and lunges at you, tickling your stomach. You shriek and run up stairs, laughing as she chases you.


	2. Chapter 2

Your mom didn’t come home yesterday. You weren’t too worried, though. Your Uncle Droog had called to say he’d come over tonight. And you had his number if anything happened.   
You’re really bored. Damara is being a boring teenager and reading magazines instead of being fun. “I’m going outside!” you declare, quite loudly, hoping she’ll acknowledge you somewhat.   
“Mmhmm.” It wasn’t exactly the reaction you had hoped for, but it doesn’t matter.   
You grab your favourite hat, a fedora just like Indie’s, and head out. You haven’t properly explored the backyard yet, and there’s sure to be heaps of cool things out there!  
There’s a tonne of grass, and it’s all green, and there are some old-looking trees and a wooden fence and a pond. You wonder if there’s any fish in it.   
One of the trees is right next to the fence. It looks pretty climbable. You scamped up the branches. You are an expert tree-climber, and you’ve only ever fallen a few times.   
You slowly and carefully make your way to the branch that reaches across the fence. Looking over, you can see Tavros Nitram in his wheelchair. He’s at a table right underneath your branch. You look harder at the table. “Are those pokémon cards?”   
Tavros jolts and looks up. “Oh….Aradia, right? I, uh, didn’t see you there…”   
You smile. “Yeah, I’m Aradia! Hey, thanks for the cake, it was delicious!”   
He smiles. “That’s good, I guess. Uh, is...is your mom home yet?”  
People always hesitate when they ask about your mom. You’re not sure why. It’s not exactly news that your mother isn’t around. “Nope. Don’t know when she will be.” You say, shrugging.   
He stares at you with sad eyes. “Don’t you miss her?”   
You blink. Of course you miss her. But what are you supposed to do about it? Missing her won’t make her come home. You don’t want to answer, so you agilely jump off of the branch and land on the ground next to Tavros’s wheelchair. “Oh, those are pokémon cards!” you exclaim, admiring his collection. He’s got quite a few good cards.   
“Uh, yeah, they are! Do you want to play?”  
You nod vigorously. “Yeah, of course I do! I haven’t played this in ages!”   
The two of you spend a long time playing. Tavros doesn’t like it when all the pokémon’s health goes down, but that’s ok because you stop before they faint. After a while, Tavros’s cousin comes out.   
“Hey, Tav, lunch is ready!” the cousin looks a lot like Tavros, but older and…he doesn’t have a wheelchair. He also has red in his hair like Simon. He sees you and smiles. “Oh, hey there, doll, what’s your name?”   
You grin. “I’m Aradia!”   
“I’m Rufioh,” he says, smiling again.   
You hear Damara calling your name from inside. She must have made lunch, too. You sigh and put down your cards. “I have to go now. My cousin’s probably looking for me. See you later, Tavros!” you call as you jump back onto the tree branch and over the fence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter.


End file.
